Looking from Canada to the United States, across Niagara's Horseshoe Falls

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Another baby sent to the U.S. because no neo-natal beds available in western Canada

This story from CTV.ca News, Sep. 29 2007:

"A British Columbia mother was forced to go to Seattle this week after complications due to the premature birth of her baby.Courtney Nassey's son, Aiden, was born six weeks sooner than expected at Langley Memorial Hospital just outside of Vancouver. He had trouble breathing and needed a level three neo-natal bed. But none were available in all of Western Canada.So, doctors had little Aiden and his mother airlifted to a hospital in Seattle. The transportation and hospital care were all covered by Nassey's provincial healthcare insurance.But the province's New Democratic opposition party says Nassey's case isn't the lone example of a premature baby being sent to the U.S.Adrian Dix, the NDP health critic for B.C., says the cost of sending mothers and infants outside of the country could be used to add additional neo-natal beds in the province."People are worried about the cost, can we afford it? Well it's a significant cost flying a mom and baby to Washington state and paying there. This kind of investment will pay for itself," Dix told CTV News in Vancouver.Nassey says that although the province's medical system will take care of her baby's health care as long as he needs to stay in hospital in Seattle, there's another cost. Her family isn't nearby to give her and Aiden support."I just want to be back at home with my friends and family," she said. "Nobody's even seen the baby."Nassey will have to use a non-profit society's aid to cover her housing costs in the U.S. once she's out of hospital.Doctors expect to get little Aiden off his ventilator soon and say he could be back home soon if a bed can be found in a B.C. hospital."*"If a bed can be found in a B.C. hospital"?! Unbelievable. Is this a joke? Sadly, it is not. This is Tommy Douglas's Sicko universal-healthcare system at 'work'.

Again, as in the recent Jepp quads case in Alberta, do we say, our system "worked", or did it "fail"? (And again, please don't tell Michael Moore that Canadians are forced to utilize the American healthcare system, because our sicko government-run healthcare can't deliver at home. Such information may reduce the gullibility-gap in Moore's film extolling Canada's glorious health system, and therefore may be unwelcome.)